Country Throwdown Tour
May 27th, 2012Review of Bangor Waterfront Pavillion Performance, Bangor, ME, by EastChapman
Photos from the Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavillion, Guilford, NH, by Micah Gummel
In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit a few things about myself before starting a review of a country music tour. I’m no stranger to red Solo cups. I like a good truck pull at a country fair. I have never worn a cowboy hat or Daisy Dukes, but I did rip the power-steering out of a jacked-up Ford mudding one time in the 80s. It would have been a rotten drive home without that Bocephus cassette tape. Those were the good old days. The sort of days they sing about in country songs. The sort of songs you expect to hear at a tour entitled, “Country Throwdown.”
Fans lined up ten deep to enter the Bangor Waterfront Pavilion on a Sunday. This year’s lineup of acts ranged from sweet traditional acoustic to hard-hitting Southern rock, with a lot of twang in between. Country Weekly magazine supplied fans with a tour program upon entering the gates. This was helpful since several of the smaller acts are up-and-comers. A publicity opportunity, the tour venue featured tents for autograph signings, charity information, and a massive Jägermeister balloon.
Maggie Rose –
The first four acts of the day were performed on a small side stage. Able to crowd in close, fans were welcomed by the performers with old-fashioned hospitality. On this small stage Maggie Rose jump-started the afternoon’s entertainment with raucous power country sound from a team featuring females on lead guitar, drums, and fiddle. Earlier known as Margaret Durante, she is a cute little blonde with a big old voice. Singing about standing her ground and taking control, Maggie Rose belted out her new single “I Ain’t Your Mama,” and followed it up with “Whiskey and a Gun,” a tragic tale of what goes wrong when “she knows what you’ve done and she’s holding whiskey and a gun.” Finishing her set with a cover of the Styx classic “Renegade,” the band exploded in a great rendition full of hard-edge rock mixed with country fiddle. But beware – if you go looking for a recorded version of Maggie Rose’s set list, the produced versions are much sweeter and refined than her live performance.
Set List: Fall Madly in Love with You ~ When Will I be Loved ~ Preacher’s Daughter ~ I Ain’t Your Mama ~ Whiskey and a Gun ~ Renegade
Florida Georgia Line –
Florida Georgia Line is a duo made up of college buddies Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley. That college connection may explain the drinking game song “Tip It.” These singer/songwriters certainly looked capable of throwing a fraternity party, and they jumped on stage with a rap-style beat crossed with twang in “It’z Just What We Do.” Able to combine metal guitar and a country rhythm, this band kept the crowd entertained with their party soundtrack.
Set List: It’z Just What We Do ~ Tip It Back ~ Get Your Shine On ~ Cruise
Eric Paslay –
With several published songs to his credit, including a #1 hit for Jake Owen, singer/songwriter Eric Paslay’s talent for lyrics nods to Cash, Jennings, and Eric Church. This boy is all Texas country. He joked with the crowd as he pointed to Maine’s Penobscot River, “If you go fishing over there, don’t use hotdogs. You won’t catch anything because I tried.” He is a young man to watch if he finds traction in the country radio market. He easily captures slices of country life wrapped up in toe-tapping rhythm with tunes like “If the Fish Don’t Bite” and “Like a Song.” Equally as sure-footedly, he twists to heartache on “Less Than Whole,” a song he co-wrote with Big Kenny, where he laments “so many broken people, their hearts forgot to beat, grow numb, no one forgiven. .there’s nothing like forgiveness to resurrect a soul.” Give Paslay a listen if you were a fan of country music before the stylists wrapped it in skintight jeans and redneck cool.
Set List: When the Sun Comes Up ~ If the Fish Don’t Bite ~ Barefoot Blue Jean Night ~ Deep As it is Wide ~ Never Really Wanted ~ Even if it Breaks Your Heart ~ Like a Song ~ Less Than Whole
Sunny Sweeney –
Sunny Sweeney is a fan favorite with a rhinestone bedazzled guitar and rowdy storytelling talent. She performs her brand of trailer park country, a mix of steel guitar, heady lyrics, heavy drums, and strong lead guitar. Confessing the origin of her song “Dirty Laundry,” she told the crowd that while out on the road “I got a picture of my husband and my family burning his (her ex-husband’s) stuff. Now you know the kind of people I come from.” We all know those people, Sunny. With Loretta Lynn’s autograph on her guitar, Sweeny’s songs are akin to Lynn’s shocker songs “The Pill” and “Fist City.” Interestingly, while the male country singers of the tour beat their chests about how great life is in the backwoods and small town bars, their female counterparts tell us just what it’s like to put up with the dysfunction. Straight up and with a smile, Sweeney’s bold lyrics take men to task.
Set List: Worn Out Heart ~ East Texas Pines ~ You Don’t Know Your Husband ~ Dirty Laundry ~ Kiss My Ass ~ From a Table Away ~ The Old Me ~ Drink Myself Single ~ Can’t Let Go
Corey Smith –
Corey Smith opened the much larger main stage performances. An electric stand-up bass and a strong acoustic guitar keep Smith’s sound distinct and fresh. Naughty enough to be funny and clever enough to keep the crowd paying attention, Smith doesn’t easily fit the male country singer version of trucks and beer and guns, and yet he does. With entertaining and intelligent songwriting, he shares drinking songs and coming of age tales polished with country blues guitar, a bit of rap, and even jazz. In “If I Could Do it Again” he sings “If I could do it again, you know I’d do it the same with the one night stands and the drinking games.” Boys will be boys. Concluding his performance with a jaw-dropping acoustic rendition of “Stand Our Ground” to mark the Memorial Day, he closed his eyes and sang “Don’t let a day go by without a peaceful prayer for my brothers and my sisters still fighting over there. They stand their ground, they stand for something worth falling for.” That was the only verse that didn’t bring tears to my eyes.
Set List: Backroad ~ In Love With a Memory ~ Drinkin’ Again ~ Maybe Next Year ~ I Love Every One ~ Good Hearted Woman ~Twenty-One ~ If I Could Do it Again ~ Stand Our Ground.
Josh Thompson –
With a red Solo cup raised in the air, Josh Thompson took the stage with a big grin on his face and laid into “Blame it on Waylon.” The next tune, “You Aint Seen Country Yet,” sent the girls in the pink cowboy hats and cutoff jeans into orbit as he sang “until you’ve seen the real thing, shotguns trucks and porch swings, and if you ain’t made love to a Haggard cassette, well you ain’t seen country yet.” What’s not to enjoy about this guy? His performance is a friendly long-haired rocking country tribute to the backwoods-and-proud-of-it anthem that is so popular with fans. Throwing into his set the famous chords of Led Zepplin’s “Kashmir” as well as a sniff of Waylon Jenning’s “Good Old Boys,” he nods to his musical inspirations.
Thompson just charms the crowd. He has enough rock ‘n’ roll in his sound to stay shy of full-blown twang and enough rowdy in his lyrics to make you sing along.
Set List: Blame It on Waylon ~ You Ain’t Seen Country Yet ~ Won’t Be Lonely Long ~ Comin’ Around ~ Way Out Here ~ A Name in This Town ~ Living Like Hank (performed with Justin Moore) ~ Beer on the Table
Justin Moore –
Justin Moore and his band, Double Barrel, are more professionally styled and coifed in appearance than the earlier acts. He could be the poster boy for today’s popular country music. Coming on stage with his white hat, Skoal ring, and ripped jeans, Moore found the crowd already on their feet. He’s as natural performing his defiant country songs “Guns” and “If You Don’t Like my Twang” as he is crooning the touching “Like There’s No Tomorrow” and “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away.” His musical arrangement is full of guitars peeling out classic rock, a drummer who evidently studied all the rock greats, and enough clear country rhythm mixed in to keep fans of Hank happy. I can see why the boys cheer him on and the girls melt to his Southern accent and grin. He’s a good old boy able to use his stage appeal and masterful lighting effects to work up the crowd, and they happily play along. His songs are destined to be favorites at every gravel pit party and barn dance. Justin Moore’s music is well-done and fun.
Set List: Guns ~ How I Got to be This Way ~ My Kind of Woman ~ Like There’s No Tomorrow ~ If You Don’t Like My Twang ~ ‘Til My Last Day ~ With a Little Help From My Friends ~ If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away ~ Beer Time ~ Bait a Hook ~ Hank It ~ Small Town USA ~ I Could Kick Your Ass ~ Backwoods
Gary Allan –
Still as passionate as ever, Gary Allan closed the Country Throwdown tour. His performance featured a simple stage, heartache, relentless rock, and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Allan fills a venue with his own brand of jagged-edge traditional country and expansive sound. While some of the fans packed up after the young guns left the stage, Allan reminded the crowd that life is more than a pit party. It is love, heartache, and country music full of steel guitar and stirring rhythm.
I’ve always thought Allan to be at his strongest with his rock-steady tunes like “Man of Me,” “Right Where I Need to Be,” and the honky-tonk driving fun of “Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey,” but I may have been wrong. I think I was missing the appeal of his silkier tracks. Live performance has the power to show a longtime fan another viewpoint. “Nothing on but the Radio,” “Smoke Rings in the Dark,” and “Life Ain’t Always Beautiful” were strong, indestructible even.
Well-known as a country outsider brandishing strong guitar and gravel, Allan’s music holds onto the best and most traditional elements of country: steel guitars, fiddle, and a rolling drum beat. Allan’s success has only been strengthened by his willingness to write songs about his reality, his well-documented pain. Strangely, he is so honest and articulate when singing about loss and desire that he somehow makes it easier to look it, to see it as natural. Of course, tragedy and addiction are more appealing when accompanied by a steel guitar, wrapped in soulful scratchy vocals, and led by a bass that rattles your ribcage.
Set List: Watching Airplanes ~ Man of Me ~ Nothing on but the Radio ~ Smoke Rings in the Dark ~ Man to Man ~ She’s So California ~ It Would be You ~ A Feeling Like That ~ Best I Ever Had ~ Life Ain’t Always Beautiful ~ Like It’s a Bad Thing ~ Runaway ~ Learning How to Bend ~ Get Off on the Pain ~ Songs About Rain ~ Right Where I Need to Be ~ Alright Guy ~ Drinkin’ Dark Whiskey
Country Throwdown Tour 2012
